To Be A Faction Again
by Hello This Is The Ark Speaking
Summary: Not many knew it, but Optimus had sent a message out into space, shortly after the incident with the undead army Megatron had brought into being. He had called for any remaining Autobots, asking for them to regroup and become a true faction again. No response. But little did he know he had been heard loud and clear. The Autobots were mobilizing.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Summery: Not many knew it, but Optimus had sent a message out into space, shortly after the incident with the undead army Megatron had brought into being. He had called for any remaining Autobots, asking for them to regroup and become a true faction again, but after months of no response, he reluctantly gave up for the time being, believing his message never made it out, or was damaged by the radiation of space.

Little did he know he had been heard, loud and clear.

And the Autobots were mobilizing.

* * *

 **Chapter: One**

 **Prologue**

* * *

Far beyond the sights of man, and even farther from the sight of any Cybertronian, within shining crystal halls, a strong figure sat upon a modest throne.

The figure was tall, huge in fact, and sat comfortable upon the throne, his large metal hands resting on arm rests. He seemed to glow with Kindness and power, despite looking exhausted, and took slow, deep breaths.

With a sudden jolt, the gentle giant leapt to his feet, layers of light robes billowing behind him as he hurried across his crystal hall, before he came to a stop at a large pool of water. Fabric pooled at his feet as he bent down, gently tapping a finger against the surface of the water, causing a ripple to spread. As the ripple disappeared into the sides of the pool, and the water cleared, an image appeared upon the surface.

The glowing figure brought a hand and gently placed it over his chest as he watched the scene unfolding upon the water.

A tall, lean Red and blue robot stood atop a large rock formation, gaze facing the stars. He had a sad expression on his face as he wished with all his heart things could be different.

The glowing figure gasped as he watched the mech in the water send a light up into the sky, and with it a burst of data, a call for his comrades. The figure immediately plunged his hand into the water, the movement causing the image to waver, the glowing giant kept at it. He focused hard on the image, his eyes narrowing as he mentally guided the message passed the infamous Decepticon communications officer, and into the depths of space.

"None shall delay, Optimus," the glowing figure said, his voice a deep, soft baritone, "You shall be a proper faction again, you have my word, young Prime."

The image faded from view the moment the figure took his hand out of the water, and stood back up, the fabric of his robes flowing in a mystic wind.

"You shall be one again, my children"

The figure walked slowly, sadly back up the hall, robes floating behind his slowly as if they were under water. Each foot fall sounded like a small crash of metal every time it hit, the very ground shook with the power of his gate.

Once he reached the throne he spun slowly to face the room again, placing his large hands on the arms of the chair to brace him, before tiredly lowering down with a small grunt.

"You will all be alright," he seemed to whisper to himself running a hand down his smooth, elegant metal face.

"You will be together again, children. Just please, hold strong for just a little longer, and all will be well again. We have already set everything into motion"

He gazed up, his head slumping against the back of his chair.

"Till all are one…"

* * *

Upon earth, atop a rock formation, Optimus Prime stood, staring out into the sky, a message rocketing out into the void.

Far north of the Prime, a young adult began to dream, a soft smile on their face as the sounds of motors and laughter filled their mind. They were content.

The poor soul had no idea what came next.

* * *

Far, far away from Earth, deep within space, a ship floated without goal, drifting pathetically past a stone.

Within the halls all seemed dark, not a sound was made, but there, in the middle of the control room, a light blink to life on a screen.

A message had been received.

At last a motion was made, a weak light grey servo reaching out from the shadows, shaking with exhaustion, before it pressed down a button with a click. The screen the light had come from lit up the room, illuminating a tired grey face, framed by a white helm.

Blue optics widened in shock at what the screen was reading, looking up and through the glass at the front of the ship.

"Optimus…!"

* * *

Upon another ship within the void of space, a set of optics flicked to life. Once realizing they were restrained to the wall, the mech struggled out of his bounds, landing as softly as he could upon his pedes.

The young mech began to rush forward before he froze, looking back to gaze at every other bot hanging from the walls, optics offline as they were force fed drugs to keep them in stasis. The young bot winced and started to make his way back towards them before he froze once more as the sound of metal footsteps began to draw nearer, and winced. He spun around one final time, before he broke into a sprint, away from the other prisoners, Leaving all his trapped, and dying comrades behind to their fates.

* * *

Primus sat upon his throne, still weary, and still tired, but watching as all these things occurred at once.

He was content for now, but there was still much ahead he needed to prepare for.

There was much work to do

* * *

 **A/N** : Hello everybody, this is my very first story being posted, so I would like your constructive feed back.

So really, if you have not worked it out, this is a story where a huge group of Autobots catch a ride on the Ark, and ride back to Cybertron, pick up the ones who were left behind, 'cause come on there is no way they got everyone.

Also, the one scene with the person sleeping, that is in fact a human, just so there is no confusion. In fact that is the only human in the whole chapter.

And if you are wondering, yes, the glowing being in the beginning was actually my view of Primus. Think of him as Aslan. Giant alien robot king Aslan.

Anyways, I have a huge list of Autobots whom are already going to be featured in the story, and I'm gonna give you guys a little spoiler here and give them to you, 'cause I want to make sure I didn't miss anyone. Here we go.

-Trailbreaker

-Perceptor

-Red Alert

-FirstAid

-Jolt

-Prowl

-Ironhide

-Sideswipe

-Sunstreaker

-Hound

-Mirage

-Roller

-Hot Rod

-Bluestreak

-Drift

-Tailgate

-Cyclonus

-Rewire(an OC)

-Blaster

-Blurr

Alright, so, tell me if I missed anyone who should for sure be on the way to Earth. And if you see any up there that should be dead, that's ok, I know what I'm doing ;)

So, your help would be appreciated!

Tell me what you think, and if you see something I can improve on, please tell me, so that I can do so in the future.

Thanks! Can't wait for next chapter!


	2. Chapter 1: Those Left Behind

**(A/N :) Thank you to those who pointed out that Jazz was not on the list. Believe me when I say that he was meant to be there.**

 **So here is the next chapter, starting on part one of the story. Hope you like it.**

 **Enjoy~**

 **To Be A Faction Again**

 **Chapter: 1**

 _ **Those Left Behind**_

" _I will come back for you, I would never abandon you here"_

" _You promise?"_

" _I promise. Not even Unicron can stop me"_

* * *

That was three years ago.

When the evacuation of Cybertron had first been called, the Autobot second in command had spread himself drastically thin. Running back and forth, constantly calling orders, who could blame the poor mech for overlooking a few things?

Alibi, they were rather large things, but the poor Praxian had just about worked himself into stasis, so exhausted he looked ready to collapse.

You can't hold a grudge against him for forgetting one promise, right?

Right?

Oh, who was he trying to fool, Ironhide was angry. More than angry, he was furious!

Three years ago Prowl had been the one in charge of getting the last of the Autobots troops off planet.

Ironhide and his team were the last remaining group of Autobots on Cybertron, and after a long time of fighting they were ready to get away.

The team migrated across the rusting, broken landscapes of once great cities, finding shelter wherever they could, tired blue optics all looking up at the dead grey sky.

Despite being the last Autobots, they were in no way the only ones there.

Decepticon scouts and scavengers prowled the cities, constantly hunting. The old weapons specialist forced himself to be constantly on edge, never allowing himself to let his guard down.

It's one of the reasons his team had lasted so long, and made it so far.

Under Ironhides leadership, they ran, scavenged, and looted, constantly on the tips of their peds, optics pealed for any Decepticons.

Finally, at long last, they reached what it was they had been marching to find.

Ironhides group of nine bots stood upon the wreckage of an old transport station, waiting for their promised ride off Cybertron.

Hours they sat there, days even, but the telltale white and black armor never came up over the broken horizon, nor was the sound of shuttle thrusters ever heard.

Prowl never came.

At last, Ironhides optics darkened as he critically swept his gaze over the surrounding buildings, finding nothing, before turning to face his exhausted crew.

"I'm so sorry," He started, his voice low and optics downcast, "but I think it is time to face the facts. Prowl is not coming"

One of the mini-bots, Roller, vented in sharply, his silver arms wrapping around himself in a hug.

"N-No, no Prowl's coming!" He stuttered, "He wouldn't leave us here! He promised! We can't be left here, please we can't-!" the small bot was beginning to shake violently, frame rattling as his optics began to fill with coolant.

A black mech hopped up from where he has previously been sitting, rushing to the mini-bot and crouching down, pulling him into an embrace.

"Primus, sweet spark, it will be alright," Trailbreaker rumbled soothingly, "Deep breaths youngling, deep breaths…"

The warrior continued to whisper to the small mech, rubbing gentle circles on his back as the rest of the team began to speak.

Sunstreaker was the first to launch himself to his peds, face plates turning blue in anger as energon rushed to his cheeks.

"How dare he!?" he yelled, "He swore to us the he would get us off of this dead zone! How could he just leave us to rust!?"

"When I get my hands on Prowler, I'm going to give him a great, big, canon right up his aft pipe!" Sideswipe hissed furiously.

"Please try to stay calm! There is no way Prowl would do something like this of his own will!" yelled a white and blue mech, whom had also stood up.

"Mirage is right," said Hound, although his optics still flashed in anger "something must have happened to cause this!"

"Perhaps we can still escape? If we keep searching we are bound to find another ship, right?" said the only femme present, a small red and grey mini-bot named Rewire.

"Don't you get it!?" hissed Sunstreaker, "There are no ships left! None, zero, nothing! Or has that not sunk into your small processor yet!?"

Rewire flinched back, causing the blue mech sitting beside her to growl threateningly.

"Watch it, Sunstreaker! I understand you are angry, we all are, but that is no excuse to take it out on the rest of us!" Said Jolt.

"You watch it you-!"

"Shut up, all of you!" roared Ironhide, effectively silencing all chatter.

"I understand your anger, believe me I'm furious, but now of all times is not the time to allow our emotions to cloud our judgement"

Sunstreaker growled, turning his back to the group and falling into a mental conversation with his twin.

Trailbreaker gently stood up, Rollers small frame wrapped around him, and held the mini-bot close to him.

"What are we going to do now, 'Hide?" he asked quietly.

Ironhide took a deep intake before he answered, "What we've always done. Keep fighting and move forward. Our future may seem-" He cleared his throat loudly, "-Rather dark, but we stick to our code. If we can't locate a ship, then we'll gather materials and fragging _make_ one. We are not just going to lie down, and allow the Decepticons to take us"

He looked around at the other Autobots, his optics bright.

Sunstreaker turned back around, slowly facing Ironhide with a determined look on his face.

Mirage and Hound stood up straighter, the green mech taking a deep breath in as he steeled himself for what was to come.

Rewire began to bounce slightly on her feet.

"When do we start boss bot?" she asked with an impish grin on her face.

The old officer looked her dead in the optics, his face darkening as a sly grin spread across his face in dark determination.

"Right now"

They may be stranded with little hope of ever surviving out here, but Primus be damned if they didn't go down without a fight.

Twisted smirks spread across the twins faces.

"Now that's what I'm talking about" Purred Sideswipe.

"Heh, why not has some fun with it?" Sunny chuckled darkly.

Roller peaked out from where he had tucked his head in Trailbreakers neck to look around at the surrounding soldiers.

"Are we gonna kick Decepticon aft?" he asked innocently.

"Yes we are!" Hound sang proudly.

Mirage looked around silently, "Who taught the youngling that language?"

"That's it, get excited" Ironhide grinned, "The Cons won't know what hit them"

"Woohoo! Let's kick some Cons all the way to the fragging Pit!"

"Seriously, is no one else concerned about who taught him that language?"

* * *

 **(A/N :) Allow me to assure you one more time that Jazz is a huge part of this story, and he will be a part of it.**

 **And so that you guys don't get bored, I'm gonna share a little bit of my plan with you.**

 **So there are three stories happening at once. This is obviously the first one I am going to give you, otherwise the other two won't make sense. Unlike other stories, I am only going to do one part at a time, instead of doing them all at once, taking turns having chapters.**

 **Each part of the story has a subplot, which will tie into important parts of the story later on.**

 **All the parts will eventually end up on earth, where everything is gonna go down.**

 **And in case of any confusion, Rewire is not an actual bot, she is an OC. She is the only Cybertronian OC that is going to be in the story, and she is in no way the main focus. And I promise she's no Marry Sue.**

 **Once again, thank you for reading, and I hope you stay tuned.**

 **Please give some constructive criticism, it really helps me improve my writing skills!**


	3. Chapter 2: A New Threat Emerges

**(A/N:) alright, chapter 2, coming your way! I'm sorry if things seem slightly rushed in this chapter, I'm not sure why it turned out that way. I will endeavour to slow the pace of thing in the future!**

 **And so begins the true story!**

 **To Be A Faction Again**

 **Chapter: 2**

 _ **A New Threat Emerges**_

 _ **And An Old Guardian Awakens**_

* * *

Hunting

Gathering

Building

Recharge

Repeat

Three years of it, nonstop.

After Prowl never showed, the team forced themselves to change their demeanor, all of them acting like it was one huge game.

Or as Rewire and Sideswipe liked to put it, constant hype mode.

Ironhide found that if they worked nonstop to keep their spirits up they had an easier time coming to standards with their current standing.

Left alone, on a dead planet filled with enemies, and no hope of rescue.

Yeah, life was a little bit grim at the moment.

Yelling and cheering was a constant, and Ironhide knew that if they hadn't kept themselves in that constant energetic high, most of them most likely would have fallen into a deep depression. Several had already come dangerously close.

For three years they gathered broken metals and hid deep within decayed buildings, struggling to stay in high spirits as their energon supplies ran dangerously low.

In the time that had passed something had changed in all of them, and not just from the war. The fact that they knew that they were really and truly left behind and forgotten hit them hard.

The younglings had little to no hope of ever getting off Cybertron, and Ironhide could see in the eyes of his men that this broke their sparks more than anything.

"They're supposed to be so full of life," Trailbreaker had said to him one day, "to see their little optics so dead… I don't know what we're gonna do 'Hide. Frag this war… those kids deserved a childhood…"

The two younglings, Roller and Rewire, had grown a lot physically. Where before they had mini-bot frames, in their place stood full grown bots.

Although they were still rather slim, both of them being two wheelers, the two could pack an incredible punch.

But despite the little bots optics being dull, the two best friends forced themselves to join in the never ending ecstatic buzz.

After all these years of fighting to survive, they had never expected the drastic situation that was about to be thrown at them.

In the middle of a decaying field of rust just outside the boundaries of the ruins of Iacon, two nearly identical mechs glided swiftly across the landscape. Skating along their wheeled feet, the two mechs motions were in perfect unison, when one moved left so did the other. Perfect harmony.

"Oi! Boys!" a loud, deep voice echoed across the dead plains, causing the two twin mech to skid to a stop.

Together the two looked towards the location of the voice, their sky blue optics landing on a huge red and black mech, with enormous canons on both arms. The large red mech seemed to raise an optic ridge at them from where he stood, his servos firmly planted on his hips as he gave them a disapproving glare.

"Really?" he said in the dullest voice they had ever heard.

One of the twins broke into a fit of giggles, placing a servo on the back of their head.

"Sorry 'Hide, we had to get out of there for a bit! its way too cramped in there for our liking!" said the red twin, his light grey face plates flushing slightly.

The larger mech growled angrily, baring his teeth at the two, "Well your little escapade put everyone in our base at risk! You both know that we are not the only ones left on Cybertron, and the Decepticons still have a strong foot hold here!"

The second twin, a yellow and black mech with a gleaming finish, growled right on back and leaned forwards, "No one saw us, 'Hide! And even if they did we would have taken care of them!"

"That is not the point!" the older mech yelled, "the two of you knowingly put not just yourselves, but everyone inside our base at risk! You both know that if the Decepticons caught wind of our location, we would quite literally have no defence!"

At the mechs outburst the two finally had the decency to look guilty, the red twin looking down embarrassedly while his yellow twin just huffed and looked away.

"Sorry 'Hide, won't happen again…" The red twin mumbled.

Ironhides shoulders slumped as he heaved a great sigh, closing his optics tiredly.

"That's what you said the last time" He grumbled.

The red twin once again began to laugh nervously, crossing his arms across his chest.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker stood behind Ironhide, attempting to use him as some sort of shield as the two young medi bots in front of them practically exploded.

"How could you have been so foolish!? Do you even comprehend just how idiotic you are!?" screamed a small red, white, and grey femme, her small hands on tight fists, just about ready to punch them.

"You better start running before we start to channel the CMO, I have quite the collection of wrenches in my subspace!" said the other, a light blue mech with a scowl on his face.

The twins began to step further behind Ironhide when the large weapons specialist simply stepped out of the way and swung his arms towards them welcomingly.

"Be my guest," he said, wiggling his servos a little bit, "they deserve it"

"hey hey hey hey hey! No. hey!" Sideswipe began to ramble, holding his arms out in front of his as if to block them, "Don't!"

"Don't you dare…" Sunstreaker growled, although he too had his arms up in defence.

The small femme reaches up behind her, a wrench falling into her hand from her subspace, before she slowly brought her hand back in front of her, holding the tool menacingly.

"You got till the count of three" She hissed.

"Running!" the twins yelled in unison as they twisted around and began to run down the hall and around a corner.

"Commencing channeling the Hatchet!" she shrieked after them. She angrily yelled as she raised her wrench arm, running down the dull orange hallway after them.

"Hey, wait for me! I want to throw stuff at them too!" the blue mech called, he too pulling a wrench from subspace before taking chase.

Ironhide stood there for several moments, listening to the echoes of yells and screaming from the twins drifted from further and further away before he sighed and grumbled to himself.

"Younglings…"

* * *

Several hours had passed, and Ironhide sat with the several other Autobots inside the base.

A deep green mech sat on his left, small but well built, fiddling with a broken blaster in his lap. Hound, A talented warrior, known for his life like holograms he uses to fool Decepticons and lure them into traps.

An old, good friend.

On the other side of Hound sat a large, heavy black mech, with a red visor. He moved with great slow movements as he tried to help Hound with the broken weapon, before giving up and going back to reading with an old data pad. Trailbreaker, another old friend, whom Ironhide had made it his mission to help boost the poor mechs self-esteem.

The old weapons specialist moved his attention towards the far corner of the room where a tall slim mech stood, blue and white paint as bright and prideful as ever, and orange collar plating guarding his neck cables. Gold optics were dull in thought as the noble mech was lost in his thoughts. Mirage, a talented Autobot spy, capable of covering himself with invisibility cloaking, and a former noble. The mech still was very obviously influenced by both his upbringing and high cast programing, by the way he spoke and the soft hidden accent in his voice.

Suddenly there was a crash, causing Ironhide to raise an optic ridge as he turned his gaze towards the source… to his right, under the table…

The old bot lazily tilted his entire upper body upside down and peered under the metal surface, raising his optic ridge even higher at the scene he was presented with.

Roller and his small silver and blue frame, was caught in one of the strangest positions the old mech had ever witnessed. Legs up behind his back, pinned there by the underside of the table, arms crammed in odd angles.

"how did you manage that?" 'Hide asked dully, causing the little mech to look up at him with wide eyes.

Rollers optics shifted to the side before looking back at his commanding officer.

"I dunno" he said with wide eyes.

Ironhide was silent for a few moments before he made a perplexed face, "why are you even under the table, Roller?"

The silver two wheeler moved his helm to look over himself slightly before once again turning his gaze back to the red mech.

"I was dancing, obviously. What, never danced until you got stuck under a table before?"

With a snort of laughter and a roll of his optics, Ironhide reached under and tugged at Rollers midsection, pulling him out roughly from under the desk.

"Get out of there you big weirdo"

The large mech stood up fully, throwing Roller over his shoulder, earning a dull 'Ow' from the youngling, before he turned to face where Trailbreaker was sitting, only to find the black mech had placed his data pad on the ground and was gazing at him in obvious amusement.

"Having fun there?" he asked.

Ironhide grunted and swung his shoulder at the other mech, making the youngling on his shoulder yelp slightly.

"Do you want your youngling back?" 'Hide asked bluntly, swinging Roller around a little bit more, forcing stifled giggles from the mech.

Trailbreaker made a highly amused face, optic ridge rising beneath his visor, before he held his arms out towards Ironhide.

"Give 'im here" the black mech chuckled.

Ironhide grunted and swung Roller of his shoulder and gently throwing him at Trailbreaker.

"He's yours"

By this point the young mech was in a fit of laughter by the time that Trailbreaker caught him, bringing the silver mech close to his face.

"What the heck were you doing under the table, you little scraplet?" he rumbled lowly, a fatherly smile on his face plates.

Roller grinned and leaned in closer, "…Dancing… vigorously"

From where he was sitting, Hound let out a snort of laughter, snickering as he made a perplexed face.

"What the frag does that even mean?" he managed to laugh out.

Roller grinned widely and swung his head to gaze at Hound upside down.

"Tis a mystery, wrapped in an enigma…"

Trailbreaker blinked slowly, "wow, you weirdo"

All Roller responded with was a little wiggle of his optic ridges.

Suddenly the entire room shook violently, causing all of them to break out of there little fun moment. Snapping to attention, Trailbreaker pulled the silver youngling flush against his chassis and slammed to two of them against the floor, covering the little mech protectively as Roller yelled out in surprise.

Not even a second later, Ironhide and Hound joined them upon the ground, covering their helms with their arms as the room continued to violently shake.

The poor spy in the corner was rudely snapped from his inner thoughts, the tremor tossing him about on his peds before he finally lost all hope of finding his balance again, falling to the ground with a yell.

"What's going on!?" he yelled in shock, attempting to shield himself as debris began to fall from the ceiling.

"No fragging clue!" Ironhide shouted.

As soon as it came about, the violent tremors stopped.

After several seconds of silence, the Autobots began to cautiously raise their heads, glancing around at the now dirt covered surfaces around the room.

"What the ever loving frag was that!?" Roller yelled, clutching his arms tightly around Trailbreakers neck.

Ignoring Mirage, who mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like _'Language',_ Ironhide slowly lifted himself back up onto his peds, the other Autobots looking up at him for an answer.

"I haven't the slightest…" he mumbled lowly, face conflicted, "Hound, please com Rewire, Jolt, and the twins, make sure they're alright. The rest of you, follow me. We're going to head to the surface to see if we can spot any explanation for what just occurred."

With a chorus of 'Yes sir!', everyone began to stand.

Hound lifted a servo to the side of his helm, where his com unit was located, and began to speak quickly.

"Autobots Rewire, Jolt, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker, please respond and confirm your location"

As the green mech went silent, seemingly listening to a response, Ironhide turned to the other three mechs present.

"let's be off then" he said shortly, turning and walking towards the door with powerful strides.

Trailbreaker gently placed Roller on the ground, allowing the small mech to walk beside him as the two and Mirage followed their leader out the door.

Mirage glanced back at Hound once, concern on his face, before he fully stepped out of the room.

All was silent for a moment, the green mech still not speaking as he waited for the bots on the other end of the line to finish.

He took a deep intake in.

"Yeah, that's just the thing, we have no idea either" he said worriedly. He fell silent again.

Quietly Ironhide poked his head back into the room, whistling slightly to get the green mechs attention.

"when you're done, please meet us outside" and with that, the red mech left again.

Silence followed his exit as Hound breathed deeply and trailed his gaze around the room.

"what the _frag_ "

* * *

Outside the run down base, Mirage, Trailbreaker, and Roller stood, blank faced and wide optics as they stared at the sky in silent shock.

Loud footsteps sounded as Ironhide trudged out of the hidden entrance, catching up with the members of his team.

When none of them even acknowledged his presence he made a slight face.

"What the frag are you all staring at- _HOLY PRIMUS ON A RUST STICK_ "

Ironhide, just like his team members before him, froze in his spot, mouth falling open as he stared with wide optics into the sky.

The sky was the same as it was any day, dead, grey, and lacking all sound. That is, if you chose to ignore the giant space bridge, along with the huge swarm of decaying mechs and femmes rushing towards it.

" _By the Allspark…_ " 'Hide breathed, his spark sinking, "what-what _is_ this?"

"All those people… they-they're offline!" Mirage whispered in disbelief, lifting a servo to cover his gaping mouth.

They all breathed heavily as the watched and listened, loud unholy screams and cries filling the stale air as more and more long dead Cybertronians forced themselves out from the ground, missing limbs and broken bodies having no effect.

"T-This is… so _wrong_ " Trailbreaker hissed, optics panicked.

"Who dare defile our fallen comrades and ancestors in such a fashion?!" Mirage rumbled dangerously, his optics briefly flashing red as he curled his clawed servos threateningly.

All was silent, aside from the dead cries, before Ironhide spoke softly, "Who do we know who has zero respect, or regard, for those he believes lower than him…?"

Optics flared angrily, and Ironhide could tell they had all come up with the same answer.

" _Megatron_ " Hissed Roller.

Visor flashing vivid red, Trailbreaker protectively placed a servo on Rollers shoulder guard, pulling the little mech closer to him as he growled.

"He killed our planet, and he still wants more…" he hissed, "wait until that fragger gets a taste of my ion blasters…!"

Several pares of running footsteps came up behind them, lurching to a stop right beside the weapons specialist. He knew who it was even before they spoke.

"W-What _is that_?!" Hound yelled.

The twins arms were limp at their sides as they too stared in shock.

"Holy mother of-"

Before either could finish their sentence yet another violent tremor began, this time accompanied by the horrid sound of an explosion.

They bots yelped in shock and surprise as they were once again thrown off their feet, tossed onto the ground as the explosion rocked the planets very core.

"WHAT THE FRAG IS GOING ON!?" Sideswipe yelled over the chaos.

Jolt looked up, before he gasped and called out, "GUYS! THE SPACE BRIDGE! _IT'S COLLAPSING!_ "

They all looked up and sure enough the enormous space bridge that had only briefly occupied the sky was fluxing dangerously, energy lashing out at the hoard of undead Cybertronians. Straining their optics, set onto the highest setting, they could just barely make out the figure of the undead creature at the very front of the pack reach out desperately, the tips of his fingers only just brushing through the spiraling vortex, before the entire thing violently burst into an eruption of light.

Ironhide forced his men together roughly, dragging them to the side and beneath a large piece of fallen building, attempting to shield them as best he could from the shockwave of the explosion. Trailbreaker and Hound forced the younglings underneath them, completely covering their small frames with their own.

The sound was so intense Ironhide found himself unconsciously shutting off his audial sensors. That didn't, however, stop him from feeling the vibrations of every explosion that ripped through the air. Looking desperately towards his team, he watched in a protective panic as with every shock, every violent quake, their mouths opened in fearful yells.

The unstable buildings around them began to tumble in the intensity of the attack, the one closest to them on the left began to topple towards them.

The last sound heard, by any of them, the high pitch scream of young Rewire, before their worlds were suddenly turned black.

* * *

 _Rebooting, please wait…_

…

…

 _Reboot complete_

 _Reporting current status_

 _Status: Online_

 _Energon levels: under 20% - require immediate refuel_

 _Time since last online: 3,240 stellar-cycles_

 _Suggestion: refuel and-_

 _Shut up._

 _Shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP._

 _This isn't right… I-I should have never woken back up… I was…_

 _Energon 20%, online 3,240 stellar-cycles ago-_ _ **3,240!?**_

 _No_

 _Nononononono_

 _Who did this to me?!_

 _Who would dare do this to me?!_

…

 _What is that scratching sound…_

 _What- what is that SOUND?_

Follo-…-OBEY-…-DESTROY THE AUTOBOTS AND THEIR PRI-

 _Oh dear, so that's what that sound was._

 _Pffft._

 _How dare someone desecrate my final resting place with the foolish notion of controlling me!_

 _No one commands Cyclonus!_

 _ **NO ONE!**_

…

" _I believe you need to calm down, brave warrior… you are safe with me…"_

…

 _That's…_

 _Alright, maybe I do heed his commands.._

 _BUT ONLY HIS_

* * *

 **(A/N:) and it was thus that the first sub plot of the story began~**

 **I would like to remind everyone that subplots do eventually meet up with the main plot, and also play a big role in the story.**

 **And hooray, Primus once again makes an appearance, however small it may have been!**

 **Also, clarification for the future, all subplots will be written very vaguely, and in italics, as so not to cause confusion.**

 **Alright, thank you for reading, and please if you can offer some constructive criticism to help me improve both my own writing skills, and this story**


	4. Chapter 3: A Home Is Lost

**(A/N:) hey, sorry for the big wait, I actually had most of this done for several months, I just got distracted and sorta forgot to post it. But hey, here it is. Late, but meh, I suck at updating.**

 **Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, we get to see Cyclonus a little more, and Primus is gonna start getting a bigger role. Setting shit up to get good and all that.**

 **alright, go ahead and read now~**

 **To Be A Faction Again**

 **Chapter: 3**

 _ **A Home Is Lost**_

 _ **And A Goal Is Set**_

* * *

The air was thick with smoke, hiding much from view. The world was deathly silent, not a single sound was uttered, the land the true description of ground zero.

All was still.

 _COUGH COUGH!_

A red servo busted out from between rusted metal plates, shortly followed by an arm, and then a shoulder. Soon a whole mech had forced himself out of the rubble, coughing loudly, desperately trying to clear his throat from the dirt and debris stuck inside.

Sideswipe groaned loudly as he fell to his knees, dragging himself up against the broken foundations of a building, before looking around him.

"Sunny?" he called out hoarsely, before falling into a fit of coughs again.

"Sunny, are you there?"

No answer.

"Rewire, Ironhide?" he began to call louder, "Mirage, Hound, GUYS?!"

All was silent.

Sideswipe breathing began to increase, his eyes flashing around the rubble in a panicked fear.

"Oh Primus" he hissed fearfully.

He raised his hands and clutched his helm between them, his anxiety kicking in.

"fragfragfragfragfragfragfrag…" he mumbled lowly to himself, optics scanning.

Just as Sideswipe was about to fall into a full on panic attack a loud cough was heard. Shortly after the rubble began to shift as mechs forced themselves out from under the rusting metal.

Sideswipe let out a shaky sigh of relief as his team rose slowly to their knees, glancing around themselves in confusion.

"Did we seriously just get crushed by a building…?" Mirage asked dully, holding his right servo up to his helm, energon leaking from underneath it and down his face plates.

"Give us a break," Jolt said tiredly, attempting to shake off some of the rusty filth, "the world was literally exploding around us"

"There is no excuse" Mirage said sarcastically.

Rewire stretched largely from underneath Hound, gazing up at the green mech in concern.

"Are you alright, Hound?" she asked sweetly, although her voice was slightly strained as she held a servo against her throat.

Hound nodded mutely, looking down at her with equal concern.

"I'm fine, youngling," he rasped, reaching out and placing a servo over hers on her neck cables, "but are you? Move you hand sweet spark, let me see the damage"

"No, no I'm fine" she whispered in a raspy voice.

"No, you're not, I can tell by the frequency of your voice that right off the bat you have some damage" Jolt said as he moved over to them and forced both of their hands away, tilting Rewires head back slightly to look over her neck with a critical eye.

"Let's see here" he mumbled, "you do have some minor damage to the external plating, signs of some internal. Looks like it's small enough that your internal repair systems should be able to take care of it in a few weeks, no lasting damage."

Rewire made a face, "well that's good"

Mirage swung his helm around, swaying dangerously on his peds as he rose to his feet, spinning around to look at their surroundings with glazed optics.

"Have you ever though that peds were just stubby little servos covered in metal chunks…?" he warbled.

Both medics gazes snapped over to him in concern, optics wide in surprise.

"It seems that we should probably check him over, huh?" the little femme mumbled.

"Probably"

Jolt stood once more and walked swiftly to Mirages side, and with Hounds help, Rewire did the same.

"Get off your peds Mirage, your helm was hit pretty hard." Jolt said seriously, slipping an arm around the slim nobles waist, gently forcing him to lower to the dust covered ground.

"But I feel fine" his eyes glazed over even further and he furrowed his optic ridges in discomfort, "oh, no, no I don't. I actually feel rather sick all of a sudden."

"Ok, just take it easy Mirage, take it easy." Rewire murmered to him, rubbing his shoulder plate soothingly, "deep intakes"

"Why… Why do… You know, scraplets are like little, little iti biti-"

"sssssh, calm down, rest. Don't speak, just rest"

Ironhide knelt across from them, counting heads to make sure everyone was present. Once he was satisfied that everyone was, in fact, there, he stood up, moving to aid Sunstreaker next to his brother.

The yellow twin grunted, but said nothing as a strong arm wrapped around him and helped him limp over to his brother, Ironhide propping him up against the wall before Sunstreaker slid down with a huff and sat next to his red brother, pulling his red servo into his own yellow one.

"So… old bucket head is still alive and kicking after all…?" he breathed out, collapsing his head against the building foundation.

Ironhide took a long, deep intake before he replied, "It would seem so…"

Trailbreaker coughed hard, but tried his best to ignore it as he continued to brush debris off of Roller, whom was leaning heavily against his black thigh.

"Where do we go from here, 'Hide? I doubt the base survived that explosion, with how run down it was. It probably collapsed in the shock wave."

Old Ironhide groaned as he tiredly dragged his servos down his face, taking in yet another deep intake.

He looked around once more, his gaze landing on the wounded Mirage, and the exhausted team.

"We need to find somewhere secure, and quickly" he said sternly, looking Trailbreaker right in the eye, before moving his gaze to make eye contact with Hound, "We can't risk being left out in the open, and with Mirage out of commission this is gonna take a bit more effort."

"That's right," Hound started in thought, "we can't send him out to look for a place. With his invisibility cloaking, he's able to slide right by any Decepticon drones."

"Correct" The old weapons specialist rumbled.

"Who are going to send out then?" asked Jolt, "Rewire and I have to stay here and tend to Mirage, so it has to be someone else"

Ironhide hummed in thought as he gazed around at his remaining options, before he made his decision.

"Hound, Trailbreaker," he addressed them, the two mechs making eye contact with him in response, "I want the two of you to locate us a temporary base as soon as you're able. We need to get Mirage somewhere sheltered so he can heal, and I do not want to risk being in the open. That explosion was huge, and I have no doubts that the Decepticons will come snooping around."

The green mech nodded, "I'm ready to go whenever. Trailbreaker?"

Trailbreaker nodded his consent before he turned back to Roller.

"I'll be back soon, little one. I won't be long" he smiled.

Roller gave him a small smile in return, "I know," he said, "I trust you"

The black mech gave the small bot one last smile before he stood up from where he had been kneeling with the silver two wheeler, moving to stand next to Hound.

"You ready?" asked Hound.

"Yes"

The two looked around silently, before beginning to move away from the other and towards the general directions of Iacon.

Ironhide watched them leave, listening as their footsteps grew further and further away, sending off a silent prayer to Primus that they would return unharmed.

"Hey, Hound!" Sunstreaker yelled after them, "bring me back more wax, I'm out!"

Ironhide chuckled as he heard a far off 'Yeah yeah!'.

* * *

' _So then… you can hear my thoughts?'_

 _A soft chuckle was heard._

 **" _My dearest Cyclonus, I can hear the thoughts of everyone"_**

' _That must be hard to live with, hm?'_

 **" _At times, indeed"_**

 _Perhaps I should ask him how I am alive once more. Yes, that's what I'll do._

' _Is there a chance that perhaps you could tell me how-'_

 **" _Cyclonus, I can hear all your thoughts, not just the ones you direct towards me. I know what it is you wish to ask"_**

 _Oh dear, that doesn't help. It makes me want to think of things I really do not want to._

 _Primus damn it, he's chuckling._

 **"** _ **I cannot damn myself, young one. That's not how it works"** he chuckled in warm amusement._

' _At the least could you help me out of the ground? I would rather not lay here' I asked bitterly._

 _The warm baritone of Primus chuckled once again, **"I would if I could, but I have no servos to dig you out with. Perhaps you should ask your companion? He still has his servos attached firmly to his wrists."**_

…

 _He's making fun of me._

 **" _Not making fun of, simply… teasing gently"_**

' _That is the same as making fun at someone'_

 **" _All a matter of opinion"_**

 _Making fun of me… how am I supposed to retaliate?_

 _That's right, I can't, he's our god._

 _Ask my companion to…_

…

 _What companion?!_

 **" _The one next to you, of course. You are actually closer to the surface then you think"_**

 _My bright red optics snapped open._

 _All was dark, but the lights of my optics lit up the small space slightly. I was definitely buried, hopefully where I had asked. I was laying on my back staring straight ahead of me, before I turned my gaze to look beside me._

 _On my left there was another mech, but he was most definitely offline. What looked like it was once white and blue armor was now dull and grey, paint chips coming off. There was a huge slash mark right across his spark chamber, making me highly doubt this mech was alive._

' _oh, you mean that one… I'm not sure he counts, he looks quite… offline…'_

 **" _I can assure you,Cyclonus, he is in the same situation as you are. Here, I will even include him in our little conversation."_**

 _Suddenly a panicked whirling was heard, the offline mech optics flashing to life in a brilliant flash of blue, mouth open in a panicked yelp._

' _HOLY FRAG, WHAT'S GOING ON?!'_

 _My optics widen._

 _He's, he's alive? But that's not possible, he has a huge slash right where his spark should be!_

 **" _I must ask the two of you to remain calm. I know this is quite shocking for the two of you, but there is a very important task that must be done"_**

' _Who are you?! What is this?! What happened?!' the other mech was still panicking, his helm beginning to thrash around slightly, freezing when he made eye contact with me._

' _Oh hello' he said blankly_

' _Greetings' I drawled._

 **"** _ **Now now, get along you two. I regret to say this, but I must ask something of the both of you"** Primus' strong voice captured both of our attentions, both of us falling silent._

 **"** _ **Thank you,"** the god said softly, **"before I am asked this again, the two of you are alive again because of a truly vile act. One of my children has gone mad with power, and attempted to use the power of-"** he hesitated before he continued, **"-…Dark Energon… to resurrect the dead of Cybertron to use as his conquering army… I regret to say that you two were affected by this attempt as well…"**_

' _The voice I heard when I first awoke' I stated._

 _I could sense Primus nod, **"yes. That was the voice as the war lord known as Megatron. Cyclonus, you will not recognize him, due to your passing many eons ago, but our dearest Tailgate here, is another story all together"**_

 _Tailgate?_

 _So that's the others name._

* * *

"So what do you think that was, back there, I mean" asked Hound as he and Trailbreaker walked quietly through the broken streets of Iacon.

The two had been gone for several hours, searching for an acceptable location for a new base.

"I'm not sure, I just know it must have been the act of Megatron. No one else would try something so insane" said the black mech, shaking his head lightly.

Hound rubbed the back of his helm.

"Yeah…that mech changed a lot…"

Trailbreaker hummed in agreement.

"I remember" the black mech started softly, "when we first met him, when he was still Megatronus, how awed I was by him. He was brave, and strong, and stood up for what I believed in. He was everything I ever wanted to be"

"yeah," said Hound, "and the way he acted around Orion, by Primus, it was one of the sweetest things" the green meh chuckled softly as he placed a servo over his spark.

"It's almost hard to believe those two would ever become enemies, much less be away from each others company. If you went back in time and tried to tell me they would end up on separate sides of a war, I would have said you're crazy."

the two mechs sighed sadly, their processors far away, dreaming of days long passed.

a sudden sound to their left attracted Hounds attention, causing him to turn his helm towards the location of the sound. He tensed slightly.

"You hear that?" he whispered.

trailbreaker scowled, transforming his right servo into a blaster as his eyes narrowed.

"Yes, I did"

Hound quickly morphed his hand into a blaster as well, and the two began to slowly approach where the sound came from.

the dark rubble shifted as a grey figure slowly began to rise up from beneath it, face down.

"Freeze, Autobot or Decepticon?!" Hounds barked out demandingly, raising his blaster level to the figures head.

all was silent for a few seconds before a distorted voice cracked from a mangled throat.

 _ **"...nEiThEr!"**_

The figure lunged at them violently, glowing purple optics devoid of life, jaw hanging. disfigured.

Dead claws slashed out, the undead mech shrieking an unnatural scream.

 _"FRAG!"_

* * *

 **(A/N:) Thanks for reading yet again my friends, and for waiting so long.**

 **If you notice any spelling or gramer mistakes, could you please point them out for me so that I can fix them as soon as I can?**

 **And as always, constructive criticism is always appreciated** ^ - ^

 **Review and give me feed back, I love hearing what you guys think of the story!**

 **TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT OF-**

 **TRANSFORMERS BALL Z!**


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